From: skunk-works-digest-owner@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu
To: skunk-works-digest@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu
Subject: Skunk Works Digest V3 #40
Reply-To: skunk-works-digest@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu
Errors-To: skunk-works-digest-owner@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu
Precedence: bulk
Skunk Works Digest Wednesday, 12 May 1993 Volume 03 : Number 040
In this issue:
Re: AURORA Bib
Recent Aurora Article (was Re: Another Aurora Question)
Re: References to Aurora
Sonic Tracking
Classified/Unclassified
RE: Recent Aurora Article (was Re: Another Aurora Question)
See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the skunk-works
or skunk-works-digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Paul Michael Keller
Date: Tue, 11 May 93 10:25:02 -0400
Subject: Re: AURORA Bib
Here's another reference, relevent to the discussion at hand, which I
forgot about when I compiled the list which Larry included in his
earlier posting:
Jane's Defence Weekly, V17, No18, pp. 763-767, (May 2, 1992),
"Big Bucks for Black Budget"
This is a Bill Sweetman piece about DOD black programs in general,
with particular emaphasis on the amount of money being spent, where
it's being spent, and which service the money is spending the money.
Since JDW isn't widely available, if there's interest on the list
I can writeup and post a more detailed summary of this. To con-
serve bandwidth please use private e-mail to respond.
Paul Keller
pkeller@engin.umich.edu
------------------------------
From: Simon Storry
Date: Tue, 11 May 93 19:44:34 +0100
Subject: Recent Aurora Article (was Re: Another Aurora Question)
Ran,
Here's another Aurora story which appeared in the May 9th 1993 edition
of the Scottish "Sunday Post", (The Sunday Picture Post Insert, Page 1).
It's not what I'd call the most stunning piece of Journalism I've ever
encountered - but then the guy hasn't got much *real* info to go on has he:-)
--------------
"Golfers stroll across the course which stretches past the end of the runway
at RAF Machrihanish near Cambeltown, not far away from the tip of the Kintyre
penisula on the west coast of Scotland.
An innocent scene. But above them flies America's top secret new spy plane -
our artists impression of drawings by American defence experts.
First spotted flying high over the North Sea in 1989, the plane's existence
has never been oficially admitted by the American authorities.
They were equally secretive when the slealth bomber also used Machrihanish
for secret trials before it took part so devistatingly in the Gulf War.
The `New York Times', `Jane's Defence Weekly' and the US Magazine `Aviation
Week' have all reported that the aircraft exists.
It's known as Project Aurora.
Oil rig engineer Chris Gibson claims to have seen the aircraft from the rig
Galveston Key. Gibson, a part-time member of the Royal Observer Corps, saw
the dart-shaped plane taking on fuel from a US Air Force tanker.
First word of it using Machrihanish came when a report filtered out about an
RAF radar man picking up an unidentified craft travelling at three times the
speed of sound near the Kintyre peninsula.
Locals started querying terrific sonic booms ripping through the sky near
the base.
Then the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute investigated earth
tremors and strange shock waves across the Friesian coast - and said the
probable cause was the sonic boom from an aircraft flying at a speed of
4000mph.
Machrihanish has the longest military runway in Europe and the US is to
invest another 7 million pounds in the base.
Moreover, the US's secret or "black" budget has pumped $8 million into the
Lockheed Corporation's ultra-high security Skunk Works in the California
Desert, believed to be for Project Aurora.
Aurora's task would be to fill in fine detail of observations by the spy
satellites the US uses for routine reconnaissance.
Like the Stealth bomber, it would be capable of defying almost any radar
system.
Add it all up and there's little doubt about the most curious birdie at
Machrihanish golf course these days."
--------------
If anyone's interested in the Artist's impression I can scan it and upload
it to the archive on harbor. However, it isn't much different from the
psaurora.jpg impression and is in B/W.
Regards
Simon
+:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::+
:: :: ::
:: Simon Storry :: email: sstorry@axion.bt.co.uk ::
:: :: voice: +44 473 646642 ::
:: Mail: Rm 306, SSTF :: fax : +44 473 643019 ::
:: British Telecom :: ::
:: Laboratories ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::+
:: Martlesham Heath ::
:: IPSWICH :: `Nothing's really a problem...
:: IP5 7RE :: if you've got a big enough hammer!'
:: UK ::
+::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::+
------------------------------
From: lou@Cadence.COM (Louis K. Scheffer)
Date: Tue, 11 May 93 11:58:11 -0700
Subject: Re: References to Aurora
Here's an obscure reference to Aurora-
The Caltech alumni newspaper had an article about the siesmologist that
tracks these things. The basic idea is simple - a sonic boom is strong
enough to pick up on a siesmometer. Since these have good timing information
available (that's how they locate earthquakes), and cover sourthern California
in a dense network, it's straightforward to track hypersonic aircraft. They
have tracked the Shuttle, which has a known course, so they know it works, and
is quite accurate. You can also get a rough size.
This is what they found (from memory, so could be wrong):
2 aircraft, about a minute apart
Mach 2-3, 20,000-40,000 feet over LA
Vector pointing towards Tonopah
Size: smaller than a shuttle, bigger than a fighter (I think)
This, to me, is by far the most convincing evidence of such a plane.
Not mentioned in the article, but by implication: 20,000-40,000 feet over LA
is VERY busy airspace. There are lots of air traffic controllers concerned
with this area. Since they have not complained about military planes flying
through their airspace without notice, it must not show up on their radars.
(Although it might be interesting to re-examine the tapes once you know when
and where to look.)
Hope this helps,
Lou Scheffer
------------------------------
From: ab151@freenet.HSC.Colorado.EDU (GARY RAMTHUN)
Date: Tue, 11 May 93 14:46:25 -0600
Subject: Sonic Tracking
The fact that radar controllers do not skin paint an aircraft means
very little anymore. The ARTCC only read transponder readings for
under normal conditions.
- --
Gary Ramthun ab151@freenet.HSC.Colorado.EDU
12989 E. Arkansas Dr Compuserve 70571, 1566
Aurora, Colorado 80012 An advanced student of life
------------------------------
From: ab151@freenet.HSC.Colorado.EDU (GARY RAMTHUN)
Date: Tue, 11 May 93 14:59:46 -0600
Subject: Classified/Unclassified
Regarding Ran Bartons search for information.
Ran,
Don't feel alone in searching unclassified sources.
In the Air Force, I had access to many Top Secret documents to assist
in preparing aircrews for threats they may encounter. Yet during
certain exercises we were up against our own ships and missles. To
those systems, we did not have source materials and so had to resort
to unclassified (usually Janes) for ship and missile information.
It may have been possible for us to get the classified stuff, but
we either didn't start the request procedures early enough, or
because of non-cooperation of interservices, we did not have the
information.
For a couple of years, I gave intelligence briefings to the local crews
and staff. It was essential that I read the Avaition Leak as soon as
it arrived, because it frequently had information in it that had not
yet filtered down through the Air Force channels.
Of course that is why the Air Force always uses the "neither confirm nor
deny" phrase. Some of the stuff that AW publishes may not be accurate,
and so the enemy cannot take it all as fact, without verification from
other sources.
One other thing. Though the cold war may be over, I see in the local
press that industrial spying is on the upswing.
An aside: I worked for two large defense contactors. I think they
protect company secrets even better than they do the classified stuff.
When the bidding team is in conference, they control access like it was
Top Secret.
- --
Gary Ramthun ab151@freenet.HSC.Colorado.EDU
12989 E. Arkansas Dr Compuserve 70571, 1566
Aurora, Colorado 80012 An advanced student of life
------------------------------
From: "Craig Harding"
Date: Wed, 12 May 1993 09:18:10 NZT
Subject: RE: Recent Aurora Article (was Re: Another Aurora Question)
Simon Storry writes:
> Here's another Aurora story which appeared in the May 9th 1993 edition
> of the Scottish "Sunday Post", (The Sunday Picture Post Insert, Page 1).
>
> [...]
>
> # "Golfers stroll across the course which stretches past the end of the
> # runway at RAF Machrihanish near Cambeltown, not far away from the tip
> # of the Kintyre penisula on the west coast of Scotland.
If the golf course does extend past the end of the runway, why hasn't
somebody camped out overnight with a video camera or fast 35mm film and
attempted to catch some images of Aurora?
-- C.
------------------------------
End of Skunk Works Digest V3 #40
********************************
To subscribe to skunk-works-digest, send the command:
subscribe skunk-works-digest
in the body of a message to "listserv@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu". If you want
to subscribe something other than the account the mail is coming from,
such as a local redistribution list, then append that address to the
"subscribe" command; for example, to subscribe "local-skunk-works":
subscribe skunk-works-digest local-skunk-works@your.domain.net
To unsubscribe, send mail to the same address, with the command:
unsubscribe skunk-works-digest
in the body.
Administrative requests, problems, and other non-list mail can be sent
to either "skunk-works-digest-owner@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu" or, if you
don't like to type a lot, "prm@ecn.purdue.edu".
A non-digest (direct mail) version of this list is also available; to
subscribe to that instead, replace all instances of "skunk-works-digest"
in the commands above with "skunk-works".
Back issues are available for anonymous FTP from harbor.ecn.purdue.edu, in
/pub/skunk-works/digest/vNN.nMMM (where "NN" is the volume number, and "MMM"
is the issue number).